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Navigating Excellence - Parent Center Assistance & Collaboration Team
Region A E-News
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Inspirational Quote
"It always seems impossible until it's done." ~Nelson Mandela
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Message from Carolyn & Diana
This is a busy time for parent centers and we want to remind you that the NEPACT TA Team is here to support you. The families that we serve often think things are impossible until we work with them to get it done. And though it's a busy time for your center, we know you are getting things done. Never hesitate to reach out to us if there is any way we can help. Looking forward to seeing you in Philadelphia at the Follow Up Forum on March 31st and April 1st!
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Featuring...
CIDA:
On Tuesday, February 25, CIDA will have an Early Childhood Education, & Pre-K/3-K Application Seminar from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at their office in Bayside. Read more. We also want to share our sincere condolences for the untimely death of Dr. Jiyoung Kim, who passed away unexpectedly on February 4th.
CPAC:
On Wednesday, February 26, CPAC will be having a training workshop called "Transitioning from Birth to Three '', a training opportunity for parent/caregivers who are raising children who are deaf or hard of hearing. You will also hear from parents who will share their stories and thoughts having experienced the process with their child. It will take place at the Yale New Haven Children's Hospital Pediatric Specialty Center in New Haven, CT. Read more.
PIC of DE:
On Saturday, March 21, 2020, the Parent Information Center of DE will be having a Youth Leadership Conference. Learn about self-advocacy and how to advocate for yourself in school, along with resources to help you graduate. It will take place at the Marion E. Proffitt Training Center in Odessa, DE. Read more.
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Upcoming Events/Dates to Remember
IS/AI Webinars:
Thursday, February 27th, 11:00 am. Nuts and Bolts of an Evaluation Plan:
An Overview of Evaluation Plans with Useful Tips & Tricks. Join the webinar.
Monthly Drop In Call
: The next Region A Drop In Call will take place on Tuesday, March 3, 10:00 am -
12:00 pm. Our calls take place on the first Tuesday of every month. In March we will be joined by our OSEP Project Officer Carmen Sanchez and a presentation by Eye to Eye National. Check your calendar invite for additional details. Join the call.
National Parent Center Capacity Building Conference Call for Proposals is out! Submissions due by March 13, 2020.
Submit your proposal.
NEPACT Follow-Up Forum/REACH Roundtable:
March 31 - April 1 at the Embassy Suites Philadelphia Airport in Philadelphia, PA. The topic for the 2020 Forum will be Improvement Science/Active Implementation. Register here.
Building Parent Center Capacity to Serve Military and Native American Families:
June 8-9,
Philadelphia. This is an in-person 2-day training for Region A Parent Centers interested in enhancing outreach and services to military-connected and Native American families. This gathering will help build our Community of Practice to provide support and encourage innovative thinking through collaboration and information sharing. Additional web-based meetings and peer to peer TA will be available following this event to strengthen your center's capacity to serve these special populations. Parent Centers may choose to send 1 staff person to attend either strand or 2 staff to participate in both strands. Centers may submit an application for CQI (Continuous Quality Improvement) funds to cover travel and lodging costs for participants.
National Parent Center Capacity Building Conference & REACH for Transition
: Save the date! The National Parent Center Capacity Building Co
nference will be held in Denver, Colorado on September 16-17; the REACH for Transition forum will be held on September 15. More info to come soon!
CADRE Conference:
Save the date! Planting Seeds: Growing an Inclusive and Informed Community, October 28-30, Denver, CO. CADRE's call for proposals is due March 1! Request for Proposals.
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Non-Profit Management Resources
 NPT Study: Most Nonprofits Don't Have Whistleblower Policies: Ripped from news headlines, whistleblower is a phrase you can't avoid. Whistleblowers are protected under federal law and often cloaked in secrecy. But according to the 2019 Ethics & Compliance Hotline Benchmark Report from NAVEX Global, there has been a "slow but steady decrease in the median rate of anonymous reports" since 2009. A majority of nonprofits still do not have a whistleblower policy. Read more.
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Technology Resources
Help your community by helping the census:
The census is coming! No, not a monster or natural disaster or even a superhero. It's the once-a-decade data gathering in the United States that impacts both our organizations and our communities. And this census will be different in important ways, making your support and leadership critical as this is the first digital census! Learn more.
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Staff Development Resources
Did you know the Parent Center Learning Hub has launched! It is expressly for Parent Centers and offers staff development opportunities on key topics related to our work. You can already access a great history of the parent center movement! Check it out.
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Family-Centered Services Resources
South Asian Women in the US:
Are you serving more South Asian families in your state or community? This fact sheet brings together a few of the sociocultural factors and issues that are relevant in the lives of first generation South Asian women in the United States. This fact sheet is to be used as an introduction and generalizations should not be made to all South Asian women. Access the fact sheet.
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Youth-Centered Services Resources
Youth Development and Leadership:
Youth development is a process that prepares young people to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood through a coordinated, progressive series of activities and experiences which help them gain skills and competencies. Youth leadership is part of that process. In order to control and direct their own lives based on informed decisions, youth need mentoring designed to establish strong relationships with adults through formal and informal settings; peer to peer mentoring opportunities; exposure to role models in a variety of contexts; training in skills such as self-advocacy and conflict resolution; exposure to personal leadership and youth development activities, including community service; and opportunities that allow them to exercise leadership and build self-esteem. Check out the resources available from the Office of Disability Employment Policy of the US Department of Labor.
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Absenteeism
Key facts about student absenteeism
: In 2017, the percentages of fourth- and eighth-grade students who reported missing three or more days of school in the previous month both reached record highs, with rates of 24 percent and 22 percent, respectively. From 2002 to 2017, American Indian students in both fourth and eighth grades were most likely to report missing three or more days of school in the previous month (32 and 33 percent, respectively), compared to their counterparts in other racial/ethnic groups. In 2017, fourth- and eighth-grade students classified as having a disability were more likely than students without a disability to have missed three or more school days within the past month. Learn more.
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Bilingual/LEP/ELL
 Rethinking the English Learner Achievement Gap: One study of EL students in Chicago Public Schools, recently published by the University of Chicago Consortium of Research, found that ELs who achieved English proficiency by eighth grade actually fared as well as their peers who had never been classified as ELs on reading tests and that they fared better than these peers on math tests, attendance, and course grades. Learn more.
English Language Learners (ELL) and Learning Disabilities
:
The following resources are provided as a result of our February 4, 2020 NE-PACT Drop-in Call discussion on Dyslexia. The intent is to provide insights to both the overrepresentation of ELLs receiving special education services as well as the difficulties obtaining services for ELLs with Dyslexia.
Special Education Considerations for English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities,
Janette Klingner University of Colorado at Boulder Urban Special Education Leadership Collaborative Spring 2012 Member Meeting Tampa. Presentation content includes: Distinguishing between language acquisition and LD, The Common Core Standards and ELLs, Collaborative Strategic Reading, Decision-making
by
school-level teams, An ecological framework for special education identification, and Special education for ELLs. See the presentation.
Diagnosing Dyslexia in English Language Learners, View the 2 ½ minute Youtube video, Dr. Fumiko Hoeft. For more in depth information: English Learners and Dyslexia: A Guide, Dr. Fumiko Hoeft of the University of California, San Francisco. While ELLs are rapidly growing in number across the United States, there is very little research available when it comes to figuring out if a bilingual student also has dyslexia. The guide contains information about diagnosing and managing dyslexia in ELLs.
RTI-Based SLD Identification Toolkit: Considerations for English Learners Updated: October 17, 2019: This webpage contains guidance for the instruction of students who are culturally or linguistically diverse and for making valid decisions for determining special education eligibility in the following areas: Tier 1 Core Instruction, Tiers 2 and 3 Interventions, and Culturally Responsive Assessments and Interpretation. Access the toolkit.
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Bullying
Negative Impacts of Bullying on the Victim and the Bully:
Bullying can have negative short and long-term consequences for both the victim and the bully. While traditional intervention for bullying tends to include getting help for the victim and establishing consequences for the bully, both the victim and the bully benefit from psycho-social support. Read more.
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Child Welfare
Population-Based Approach to Child Welfare:
The child welfare system in the U.S. was built more than a century ago on the notion that children at risk of harm needed to be "rescued" from their parents in order to be safe. We now know that the opposite is true - in almost all cases, children need their parents in order to thrive. Sometimes, however, parents need help, especially when they are struggling with poverty, housing instability, mental health challenges, or substance use disorders. Experiencing maltreatment is traumatic enough for children. Separation from parents can compound that trauma, creating devastating effects that can span a lifetime. A population-based approach to child welfare brings together stakeholders committed to a shared vision of promoting child and family well-being and ensuring that all families can access the supports they need to reach their potential. When an entire community shares the goal of family well-being, community members can work proactively to implement strategies that benefit everyone, rather than waiting and responding to individual needs. Such an approach prioritizes prevention before harm occurs and keeping families safely together. It leverages what we know about child development, brain science, interventions that demonstrate improved outcomes, and lessons learned from children and families with lived experience in the child welfare system. Read more.
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Choice/Charter Schools/Virtual Schools/Voucher Programs
 Has "Choice" Become an Excuse for Charter Schools to Discriminate?
When prominent advocates for "school choice" talk about how a market-based approach for education works, the stories they might cite as successes actually reveal serious shortcomings of charter schools and vouchers, especially about how they can have detrimental effects on parents, children and communities. Numerous research reports and news accounts find that private schools participating in voucher programs often deny access to students and families on the basis of religious or sexual identity, learning ability, or fluency in English. Studies also show charter schools often enroll racially and economically homogeneous student populations and tend to have fewer students with special needs. Expanding more charters and voucher programs can increase discrimination in schools because federal laws don't hold public, private, and charter schools to the same standards, state legislatures too often ignore discrimination in creating charter and voucher programs, and privately operated schools have a free hand to design programs to discourage-or even prevent-undesirable students from enrolling. Read more.
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Civil Rights/Discrimination
Outreach, Prevention, Education and Non-discrimination (OPEN) Center:
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education will launch the OPEN Center to focus on proactive compliance with federal civil rights laws. The OPEN Center will provide assistance and support to schools, educators, families, and students to ensure better awareness of the requirements and protections of federal non-discrimination laws. Inquiries can be sent to [email protected]. Read the press release.
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Cultural Competence
Are your training curricula culturally competent?
Use this self assessment tool from the National Center for Cultural Competence to elicit the extent to which principles of cultural and linguistic competence are incorporated into your curricula and training practices. The tool can be used to engage staff in a self-assessment process or to determine training needs and interests. Items may be modified or adapted to address the type and scope of your training program. Access the tool.
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Data
Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting
: The Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting (CIFR) provides technical assistance to state educational agencies to help them meet their federal obligation to collect and report special education fiscal data. The specific reporting requirements supported by CIFR are maintenance of state financial support; allocation of IDEA Part B subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs); LEA maintenance of effort; and coordinated early intervening services. Check out all the information, fact sheets, guides, and tools available from CIFR.
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Discipline & Positive Behavior Supports
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Dispute Resolution
Dispute Resolution Video: Parents and school staff may disagree about what should be in a student's IEP. There are many steps parents can take to resolve such a disagreement. This video from Disability Rights NC walks parents through those steps at the school, district, state and federal levels. Watch the video.
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Early Childhood/Early Intervention
Head Start Information Memorandum on Inclusion of Children with Disabilities:
The Inclusion of Children with Disabilities Information Memorandum was recently issued to all Head Start and Early Head Start Agencies and Delegate Agencies by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The memorandum highlights requirements in the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS) related to the inclusion of children with disabilities and delays, and includes a list of free resources for use at the local level, such as an infographic on supporting young children with special needs.
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Equity
Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) National Summit on Community Schools and Family Engagement | May 27-29 | Los Angeles, CA: IEL knows achieving equity takes families, schools, and communities working together, so they are bringing together two of their flagship events - the Community Schools National Forum and the National Family and Community Engagement Conference to bring you Rise Up for Equity: A National Summit on Community Schools and Family Engagement. When you register for this summit, you'll be joining nearly 4,000 other attendees-from youth to school district leaders, community organizers to elected officials, early childhood educators to university faculty, families to union activists, and researchers to system builders and more-across the U.S. and beyond.
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Foster Care
 Infants and Teens More Likely to Experience Foster Care Reentry:
Children who have exited foster care are more likely to return to care if they are infants, in their early teens, or have experienced a group placement before reuniting with their families. In addition to assessing a child's risk of returning to foster care after discharge, the study explores how child welfare agencies can identify kids who might benefit from evidence-based interventions available through the Family First Prevention Services Act. Read more.
Sen. Casey Launches Campaign for Sweeping Child Welfare Reforms: On Tuesday, February 18, Pennsylvania senior Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, is making it clear he's in it for the long run. Two years into his third term, Casey, 59, is barnstorming the Keystone State to promote an ambitious package of child welfare proposals that even he concedes may take years to bring to fruition. Read more.
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Homelessness
Racial Inequalities in Homelessness
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Most minority groups in the US experience homelessness at higher rates than whites, and thus make up a disproportionate share of the homeless population. African-Americans make up 13% of the general population but more than 40% of the homeless population. Similarly, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and people who identify as two or more races make up a disproportionate share of the homeless population. Hispanics make up a share of the homeless population approximately equal to their share of the general population, while whites and Asians are significantly underrepresented. Get the facts.
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Immigrant
No Muslim Ban Ever Coalition Urges Support of NO BAN Act As It Moves into Committee Markup: The House Judiciary Committee will begin the markup process on the National Origin-Based Anti-discrimination for Non-immigrants Act, also known as the NO BAN Act. The legislation would immediately repeal prior versions of President Trump's Muslim ban, including one that specifically targets refugees, and an asylum ban that targets asylum-seekers arriving at the border, change immigration law to prohibit discrimination based on religion, and limit the power of this administration or any future administration to enact similar bans.
Read more.
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Inclusion
How to Promote Classroom Inclusion: Promoting inclusion requires teachers to learn about their students' needs and create an environment that is prepared to address those needs. They also need to restructure some of your lessons and activities accordingly.
Read more.
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Juvenile Delinquency/Juvenile Justice
Seven Things Juvenile Justice Judges Should Know About Learning Disabilities: Learning disabilities have a clear link to youth delinquency, and are one of the most prevalent disabilities within juvenile court populations. This article highlights the challenges that youth with LD present to the juvenile court, summarizes key components of special education disability law, and provides effective strategies to courts working with these youth and families.
Access the article.
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Mental Health
New Report Shines Spotlight On Mental Health In The Workplace: MHA is pleased to release a new report focused on the American workforce and mental health,
Creating a Healthy Workplace: Impact of Supervisor Support and Company Culture.
Learn more.
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Military Families & Youth
Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel:
On 2/5/2020 The Subcommittee held a hearing on EFMP issues across the services. A variety of military service and advocacy organizations as well as two military parents participated in the first panel followed by a second panel of DOD representatives across branches. The crux of the matter is barriers and lack of support to military families with needed health care and education services. Learn more.
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Native American Families & Youth
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Parent/Family Engagement (and Youth)
Five Minute Film Festival on Parent-Teacher Partnerships:
Strong relationships between families and teachers are critical for successful students, but where do you begin to build them? VideoAmy offers up resources and a playlist of videos about parent engagement. Check it out.
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| Poverty
Balancing Work and Learning: Implications for Low-Income Students:
Check out this video on the reality that working and studying generally helps students from higher-income families but provides steeper challenges for low-income students.
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A Kindergarten Teacher's Guide to Supporting Family Involvement in Foundational Reading Skills: This guide compliments and extends the IES/What Works Clearinghouse practice guide geared for teachers and administrators.
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Social-Emotional Learning
What Brain Science Teaches Us About Conflict Resolution:
When a teacher noticed her kids fighting at recess, she turned to neuroscience and mindfulness practice to help them take control of their emotions. Find out what she did and what happened as a result.
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| Transition to Adult Life/Youth
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Trauma & Toxic Stress
Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences: Leveraging the Best Available Evidence:
CDC defines adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as "traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years), such as experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect." This report explains the prevalence of ACEs and provides strategies to prevent children from experiencing them. This resource can help states and communities leverage the best available evidence to stop ACEs from happening and lessen harms when ACEs do occur. It features six strategies from the
CDC Technical Packages to Prevent Violence
. Access the report.
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ABOUT THE REGION A PARENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER
The Navigating Excellence-Parent Assistance and Collaboration Team (NE-PACT), the Region A Technical Assistance Center, provides technical assistance to federally-funded parent centers -- Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) and Community Parent Resource Centers (CPRCs) -  located in the states of
CT-AFCAMP
,
CT-CPAC
, DC-AJE, DE-PIC, MD-PPMD,
ME-MPF
,
MA-FCSN
,
NH-PIC
,
NJ-SPAN
,
NJ-ASCF
,
NY-AFC
, NY-CIDA, NY-LIAC,
NY-UWS
,
NY-Starbridge
,
NY-INCLUDEnyc
,
NY-Sinergia
,
NY-PNWNY
, PA-HUNE, PA- ME, PA-PEAL, PR-APNI,
RI-RIPIN
, VI-DRVI and
VT-VFN
. These Parent Centers are independent non-profit organizations. We also provide support to emerging parent centers and parent organizations serving families of children with or at risk of being identified as having disabilities. In addition, we work with early intervention and education agencies (local, state and federal level) seeking information regarding best practices in involving parents of children with disabilities in systems improvement.
The center activities are specifically designed to:
- Enhance the capacity of parent centers to provide effective services to families of children with special needs and to work effectively with their states to improve special education and early intervention systems; and,
- Facilitate their connections to the larger technical assistance network that supports research-based training, including educating parents about effective practices that improve results for children with disabilities. For more information click here.
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